Time and Blood
by thegenuineimitation
Summary: The Apocalypse is nigh, people are dying left right and centre and the humans are all in denial. They've a name for the day Lucifer was let out of his box. The Pulse. Warning: Slash, no wincest!
1. Prologue: The Blue Lady

**Time and Blood**

**Prologue: The Blue Lady**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or Dark Angel.**

**WARNING:** This story will eventually contain Slash (m/m) relationships, sexual content, violence, torture, racism, character death...etc. You have been warned! This story is rated for a reason if any of the aforementioned squicks you, I strongly advise you find a different fic to read.

**Author's Note:** This sort of plot has been kicking around in my brain for awhile now, actually since I first saw the episode Croatoan, now it's all kind of coming together. Hope you guys enjoy it! Please note that this body is the Dental Hygienist Lilith is wearing in season four, but this event happens when she first drags herself out of the Pit, before her shore leave.

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_Fall 2008 – Manticore Facility, Wyoming – Night_

Ben woke feeling muzzy headed, clinically he forced himself to recognize the effects of the drugs they'd given him. The one they'd chased, the nomalie, had fought back and broken his two front teeth, shattered them really. Lydecker had taken one look at him and sent him to the Med Bay for dental surgery.

Ben stood carefully and padded to the mirror, his front two teeth were missing and he looked ridiculous. He was still frowning at his reflection when the door connecting the recovery room to the rest of the med Bay opened and the dental surgeon walked in. She was pretty with long blond hair and big blue eyes and she was dressed in blue hospital scrubs and a white lab coat.

Ben froze hoping she wouldn't notice him, but her eyes snapped toward him and for a second were pure white. She stared at him, seemingly shocked for a long moment.

"What are you doing out of bed?" she scolded in a soft motherly voice.

Ben flinched as she came nearer, something wasn't right, this wasn't Dr. Pemberton.

"Who are you?" asked Ben.

"Clever, child. I'm not going to hurt you, child, what's your name?" she took another careful step forward.

"My designation is X5-493," he said dutifully.

"That's not what I asked," crooned the woman.

Before Ben could blink the woman was standing right in front of him and her hands were lifting his face to look into her eyes, her cloudy inhuman white eyes. He was afraid but he did nothing except freeze under her touch.

"It's alright, little one, I'm not going to hurt you, tell me your name,"

"Ben," he told her jutting his chin out and daring her to punish him.

"That's right, Ben, strap a little of that famous Winchester steel to your spine," she said stroking his face tenderly.

"You're not the one who took my teeth," Ben said boldly.

"No, and you don't have any idea...how precious..." she laughed a little to herself, "She took your teeth to call me to her Ben, teeth make me strong you see, she gave me her body to use while I'm here,"

"Who are you?" asked Ben.

"Someone who loves you, very much, you're just what I've been hoping to find Ben, I'm going to keep you safe," she crooned gathering him to her.

"Are you her?" asked Ben quietly.

The woman looked down at the little card she was presented with. The Virgin Mary dressed all in blue and white and fought a sneer. The child's devotion was what she wanted and the easiest way of accomplishing that was my pretending to be an Angel Lover.

"Are you the Blue Lady?" he asked again.

A perfect cocktail of hope and desperation, it was really almost too easy.

"Yes,"

"And you're going to protect us?" he asked hopefully.

"Oh yes, Ben, you are very special, I'm certainly not going to let the Hunters or any of the lack wits Downstairs get a hold of you, no, you will be mine," she said.

Ben's eyes lit up, and he embraced her in return.

"Can I tell you a secret Ben?"

She whispered near his ear grinning maliciously.

"I'll never tell,"

"Good boy, I'm going to tell you my name, my real name,"

"What is it?" whispered Ben, awed.

"Lilith,"

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**AN: **Just a short little prologue to reel you guys in. Hope you liked it! Please Review!


	2. Chapter 1: Another Dead Winchester Lives

**Time and Blood**

**Chapter One: In Which Another Dead Winchester Lives**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or Dark Angel**

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_Winter 2021- Manticore Facility, Montana - Day_

Ben stared at the wall. It was a white wall, not that interesting as far as walls went. Ben had seen far more captivating walls on the outside. Walls with color, symbols, graffiti, grim, dirt, mould, floral wallpaper. He'd done nothing but eat, sleep, and stare at the wall since they'd brought him back. The white coats were concerned about brain damage, and were holding off on active reindoctrination until they could figure out whether or not he was too broken to be useful.

Ben supposed that was something to be grateful for.

He felt hollow inside, like someone had taken part of what made him who he was and just scooped it out with a big sharp spoon.

Lilith.

Maxie.

The two were a jumble in his head. One he didn't try to sort out for once, Lilith had abandoned him, Maxie had killed him for his faith. He was a monster, a psycho, as bad or worse as the nomalies, as the prisoners, as the faithless. As bad or worse than the things he'd hunted all his life, the things he'd been trained to hate and kill. Where did that leave him now?

Whatever Max thought, Lilith had been real, and she'd been powerful. If she had wanted to she could have saved Jack, or Eva. If she still loved him, even a little bit, she would have stopped Max from killing him, but she hadn't, she wouldn't, because for some reason she just didn't care anymore, if she ever really had.

It was a shocking thought, he'd devoted himself to a being that cared nothing for him, hell, even Manticore cared enough to clean up his messes, to bring him back to life. Lilith couldn't even be bothered with that much.

He missed his freedom, he missed being able to sleep and eat when he wanted, and wearing blue jeans, and sex, god how he missed sex! He'd squandered his time on the outside paying homage to someone who didn't care. He'd given up his freedom before he could realize what a gift it was.

To say he was pissed at Lilith would be a severe understatement.

After the anger there was the acid tang of regret, regret that he hadn't tried to find his brothers and sisters, that he'd hurt Maxie, that he'd made her hurt him. That he'd killed all those people for no good reason.

After regret the sick gut-churning guilt and self-disgust made itself known.

It was a loop that kept repeating even as he stared blankly at the wall, his thoughts and emotions roiled like incoming thunder clouds, dark and angry. Day in and day out, he brooded.

A familiar tingling sensation broke him from the loop of his thoughts and put him on high alert. Danger! Screamed his instincts.

Someone was shouting. He focussed his attention on the sound and immediately the conversation became as clear as if they were arguing right in front of him.

"...493 is unstable, dangerous, you can't go in there!" protested his favourite of the white coats.

A young woman with large dark eyes who reminded him of Maxie and wore pink scrunchies to match her pink scrubs.

"I'll take it under advisement," came the cool mocking male response.

A gunshot sounded.

Ben shot to his feet, assessing the situation as he'd been trained. He pressed himself into the corner between the wall and the door and when it burst off its hinges Ben didn't waste time, but kicked his assailant and would be murderer where it would really hurt and blurred out of there.

His favourite white coat lay bleeding on the floor her wide dark eyes empty and staring. Ben's jaw tightened as he shoved easily past the human gun toting grunts and made a break for the staff cafeteria. The grunts recovered quickly and were after him with the pounding of military issue boots. He reached the staff cafeteria in no time at all and blurred by the two or three shocked white coats who were having lunch. He crashed through one of the wide windows tucked and rolled and blurred into the forest gunfire following him.

Ah, memories of the Escape.

They didn't mean to capture him then, just kill him.

Well he would bet the shirt off his back, and it being winter in the Montana wilderness that was saying something, that he could outmanoeuvre them. He hadn't learned nothing from playing escape and evade with Manticore for all those years after all.

He wondered why they'd killed their own white coat. Something was wrong with Manticore, that was for sure.

Ben however, wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, he'd wanted a second chance at freedom, well here it was. Ben remembered vaguely hearing some of his jailors discussing deliveries that were meant to arrive from 'Up North,' so once he was sure that he wasn't being pursued anymore he oriented himself and headed North, sure he'd run into something resembling civilization or someone sooner or later.

It took half a day or so but Ben eventually blurred into the outskirts of a small town, one of the many that had thrived after the pulse as big cities crashed and stopped stealing away their business. He stole a pair of jeans off someone's laundry line and a pair of muddy boots off their neighbour's porch. As he got closer to town he stopped blurring and plodded along like any old normal person.

The town was small but thriving, with a bar, a diner, a general store, a grocery store, a few blocks of cookie cutter houses and some backwoods trailers and log cabins. There was also a church, Ben hesitated, but the little church drew him like a magnet.

It was quiet inside, peaceful. The pews were a worn dark walnut and there were a few burning candles, one set before a small altar dedicated to the Blue Lady. Ben plodded up to the altar, the hollow thud of his borrowed boots echoing through the empty church. He stood there for a long while, his fists clenched and white knuckled.

"I'm afraid you're barking up the wrong tree with that one," the voice was gruff and belonged to a grey haired black man who had probably seen the best part of sixty.

"Yeah?" snorted Ben his voice hoarse from months of silence.

"A man out for blood, won't get any help from the Mother, she doesn't approve you see. Not of a man bent on doing violence,"

"I'm not looking for trouble," Ben lied.

"Keep your secrets boy, I'm not about to force you to tell what you've done or plan to do or why...but if you're not going to talk to me, try bending his ear, because it looks like you could use a little help from on high,"

The old priest pointed at a smaller figure, one with white wings and golden hair and a sword in one hand and a horn in the other.

"Who is he?"

The priest raised an eyebrow.

"He is the Archangel Gabriel, he'll give you truth, not comfortable absolution from guilt, which if you asked me is just what a man like you needs,"

"Why would you say that?"

"Don't be dense boy, you're a soldier of some kind, plain as the nose on my face, you lot always look for the same things, forgiveness, peace, but you always need something different and that is purpose. Purpose comes from belief and belief from truth, either of the mind or of the heart and soul,"

Ben considered the priest.

"Maybe I will,"

"And maybe you won't, don't let me try and sway you. You don't have anywhere else to go, I've got a room in the back you can kip in and a free meal for tonight,"

"Thanks, I appreciate it,"

"I know," said the priest rolling his eyes, shaking his head, and muttering under his breath about boys who were all the same.

"I take it you're used to dealing with soldiers," Ben said to make conversation as the old priest handed him a clean blanket.

"Hunters mostly, but I get a fair few soldiers too, and in the end you all come to God looking for the same thing,"

"Do they find it?"

"Sometimes, if not in God, than in each other, brotherhood, family, the things that really count when you get to the end of your rope,"

"Hn," Ben grunted.

The conversation was making him uncomfortable. They were too close to some of the things Maxie had said. He'd thrown the words in her face at the time, maybe though there was some truth in them.

The priest left him alone to get settled and Ben slept soundly for the first time since Manticore had brought him back and taken him off the sedatives. The priest woke him with dinner, a pork chop, mashed potatoes, and a sliver of cherry pie from the diner, around seven at night and he locked down the church a few hours later at ten.

Alone in the holy place, Ben hesitantly took the old priest's advice, and prayed, not it the usual bloody violent way he did for Lilith but just...talking, like he'd seen others do occasionally. The ones he'd always thought were faithless cowards and now realized probably had a healthy philosophical or existential relationship with God.

"Um...yeah, I'm kind of new at this whole thing, so cut me some slack alright. Gabriel...I need your help, I..."

There was the sound of flapping wings and Ben spun around eyes wide as a man appeared, a man with blonde hair dressed in jeans and a worn looking military green jacket.

"Well it's about damn time!" the man exclaimed, "I mean really Dean, you had me worried you were good and gone this time, I looked everywhere, Cas went out of his mind worrying about you, you know personally I think he searched longer and more diligently for you than for our dear old Dad?"

Ben just stood there with his mouth hanging slightly open.

"Wow Dean, not the witty comeback I was looking for, it's like you're not happy to see me,"

"I'm not Dean...I'm Ben, who the hell are you?" Ben demanded snapping out of it a wishing for a weapon.

"You're kidding right?"

"Does it look like I'm kidding to you?" Ben demanded angrily.

"No, you looked pissed, like always, I don't know why when you apparently up and decided to take an eleven year vacation from the Apocalypse!" snapped the blonde man.

"I have no idea what the hell you're talking about, my name is Ben, I don't know you, and I don't know anything about any freaking Apocalypse!"

This seemed to give the man a pause, and he cocked his head looking at Ben as if he could see down to his very soul.

"Pull down your shirt, show me your left shoulder," he ordered.

"What? No!"

The man rolled his eyes.

"Relax, I'm not about to molest you, there is one thing that will convince me you're not Dean and that is if you show me your shoulder,"

Still eying the blond man suspiciously Ben pulled down his shirt to expose his left shoulder.

"Huh, so you're not him, well...that makes this awkward," said the blond man sheepishly.

"What should be on my left shoulder?" asked Ben morbidly curious.

"On your shoulder, nothing, on his...a handprint from where my brother, how did he phrase it? Oh yeah 'Gripped him tight and raised him from perdition,'"

"That's...creepy," Ben said.

"Yeah, well, Cas isn't all that used to humanity yet. Any how, what did you call me up for?"

"Er...what do you mean, call you up, I don't even know you!" Ben protested.

"Well you were praying, asking for my help, and I thought you were Dean, cause hey, you guys sound and look nearly identical, so I came down, shoulda known it wasn't him, he would just hunt me or demand I get my ass down here, rather than asking so politely," shrugged the man.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Haven't you figured it out yet, boyo, I'm Gabriel, the Archangel Gabriel," grinned the man mischievously.

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**AN:** I think I'll end it here, next chapter, Ben freaks out, Gabe explains some stuff, and a course of action is decided upon! Please Review and let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 2: Angelic Explanations

**Time and Blood**

**Chapter Two: Angelic Explanations**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel or Supernatural**

**WARNING: **Religious views not covered in the Bible! If you are easily offended by the twisting of your faith please read no further and don't inundate me with flames on the subject!

**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who faved and alerted! Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

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_Winter 2021- Church, Small Town, Montana - Night_

Ben gaped for a long moment at Gabriel, and then he realized he looked like someone had hit him in the face with a dead fish and shut his mouth.

"I don't believe you," Ben finally managed, "You're just another sicko, that wants me to pull teeth,"

Gabriel raised an eyebrow.

"Pull teeth, where did that come from? That's one I can say I've never gotten before, usually its something along the lines of I'm going crazy! You're crazy! I'm dreaming! Please don't smite me, I didn't mean to!"

Ben's eyes went very round as his voice changed, not just getting deeper or higher or gaining an accent but actually went from female to male to Chinese to Indian.

"That's..."

"Not proof enough for you? Alright, I'm going to walk outside, when you can't see me anymore, call my name,"

Ben watched as the man walked out of the church and using his enhanced vision he tracked the man through the window until he thought he gone far enough.

"Gabriel!"

"Hiya!"

Ben yelped and in a very un-soldier-like display fell backwards with his arms pinwheeling comically. Gabriel had appeared right in front of his nose with the same wing flapping sound Ben had heard earlier.

Gabriel chuckled.

"Believe me yet or do I have to pull the whole thunder lightning show you my wings I am an Angel of the Lord fear my Wrath bit?"

Ben took a deep breath.

"I believe that you're powerful, and I don't want anything to do with you,"

"You may not have a choice," Gabriel told him.

Ben's eyes narrowed.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

"Dean Winchester, the guy who looks just like you, he's important...special," Gabriel shrugged, "You're his blood, you can do what he can just as well, and get a little demon blood in you and you can even do his brother Sam's job,"

"I'm not doing anything else for you super-powered assholes! I spent ten years killing people, pulling teeth for her, and what have I got to show for it? Nothing except pain and guilt!" Ben snarled gesturing at the altar.

"Whoa, whoa, you're saying the Virgin Mary made you perform amateur dental surgery?" Gabriel said incredulously.

"The Blue Lady, she said she needed the teeth, that they made her strong, to protect us from the nomalies," Ben said through grit teeth, "She lied, she didn't protect Jack from Lydecker and the white coats when the shakes got him, Eva got shot during the Escape, she even let Maxie kill me! Everything I did for her was for nothing!"

"Cool it, boyo, let me set you straight on a few things. First off, ritual sacrifice is not the way to go about summoning holy beings, second, Mary was a human woman capable of being an Archangelic vessel and I was the one who impregnated her with Jesus, few drops of Grace and boom, instant baby, and while she was hot stuff while she was alive, she's got no powers to speak of and is content to chill out in her little corner of Heaven,"

"Her name isn't Mary, it's Lilith and..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up! Lilith! Lilith is the one that set you out on your little killing spree?"

"Yeah,"

"Are you sure, cause last I looked Lilith was a) dead and b) ready to spill Winchester blood," Gabriel said.

"Look I don't know what the hell you keep babbling on about these Winchest...ers..."

Ben flashed back to the night he met Lilith.

"_That's right, Ben, strap a little of that famous Winchester steel to your spine," _

"You alright, boyo?"

"Yeah, it's just Lilith mentioned Winchester, I remember, who are they and why do people keep calling me Winchester and what the hell is going on!"

"Okay, hold your horses Benny; let's finish up our run down of who Lilith actually is first,"

"Fine, enlighten me, who is Lilith?"

"Do you know about Adam and Eve?" asked Gabriel.

"No,"

"Alright, well, Adam was the first of an evolutionary line to be classified as human; really he was just a smart monkey slightly less hairy than those monkeys before him, the first human, an animal gifted by God with the same potential for intelligence as his first children, the Angels. Now, Lilith was Adam's first wife and she was a good bit smarter than her husband, so when my brother Lucifer decided that he was gonna throw a temper tantrum and got himself cast out of Heaven he tempted Lilith and turned her to sin, he made her the very first demon, dragged her into the pit with him when he got locked up. Any way the gist of the story is this, demons are human souls trapped in Hell and twisted by Lucifer until they are powerful and cruel. Lilith is a demon, she made you do bad things because she was evil and she liked it,"

"Hell is the Bad Place and Heaven is the Good Place, right?"

"Yeah, in really simplified terms I suppose," shrugged Gabriel.

"Okay, well get to the part where you explain why me?"

"Well, it starts with another demon called Azazel; a loyal servant of Lucifer's who had been trying to get him out of his cage pretty much since he was tossed in there. He tried a bunch of different things but eventually Lucifer instructed him to start making his Special Children so Azazel went around making deals with mothers of children who could be angelic vessels,"

"Wait, hold up, that's like the second time you've said something like that, angelic vessels, what does that mean?" Ben asked.

"Wow, you really have been living under a rock religion-wise haven't you? Alright, well, Angels and Demons aren't corporeal on Earth we're too powerful, too much for most humans to perceive, to make it simple if you looked at me in my true form your head would explode,"

"So...that's not you?" guessed Ben gesturing at Gabriel's body.

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! When God decreed that Angels were to love and protect the humans a bit of grace from each garrison was given to a human so that their children and their bloodline could provide shells for Angels to where while we were slumming with the mud monkeys!"

"So it's genetic, you guys did something to a bunch of ancestors and it got passed down genetically,"

"Yep, and potential vessels are not too hard to spot either for Angels or Demons, so Azazel went around and said hey, if you let me come to your house in ten years I'll fix your hubby's health problems, I'll kill that nasty stalker you've got, I'll fix your leaky roof, whatever. Little did these idiots know that they were signing their unborn children up for officer school in the demon army. Anyway, Azazel made a deal with a Hunter from a family of Hunters, a woman named Mary Campbell, she would let him poke his nose into her house in ten years if he brought the boyfriend he'd just murdered back to life, a boyfriend whose name was John Winchester,"

"Huh," grunted Ben.

"Alright, I was hoping for a little more drama from you,"

"What's a Hunter, I've heard that now a couple of times too, and I'm guessing their not gun toting Bambi killers,"

"You're right about that, Hunters usually hunt and destroy things like ghosts, poltergeists, low level creatures that prey on the humans, if they live long enough they usually graduate to things like vampires, werewolves, wendigo, witches and after that if they're really unlucky they get caught up with demons,"

"That's a bad thing?"

"Well, you have to give the guys credit for trying but most of them get killed or possessed, a few manage successful exorcisms, but for a long time there wasn't any way of killing demons, that the Hunters knew of,"

"Okay," Ben nodded his understanding.

"Well, back to John and Mary, they were both potential vessels for my garrison, for the Archangels, and they were in love, a love carefully crafted by all the Cherubs in Heaven on God's or someone else's orders, that isn't all that clear nowadays. They had two adorable little tykes, Dean and Sam. Now Dean was born only a couple of years after John and Mary got together but little Sammy was exactly six months old when Azazel crept into his nursery ten years to the day after he made the deal with Mary and bled into Sam's mouth. Unfortunately or fortunately for the boys, Mary caught him red handed and she was murdered. John, Sam, and Dean got out of the house, and John was told that something evil had gotten to Mary. He became obsessed with finding the thing that killed her and he dragged Sam and Dean across the country and taught them to be Hunters,"

"Okay, that's sad and everything, but speaking from experience it could have been a hell of a lot worse," Ben said thinking of Manticore.

"Well skipping ahead a few years, the boys grew up, Dean became one of the best Hunters out there and Sam skipped out on his family and left for Stanford to go to college and live his Average Joe dream life. Azazel wanted his favourite candidate Hunting however and so he killed Sam's pretty little girlfriend Jessica the same way he killed his mom, and like father like son, Sammy hit the road with Dean to hunt down Azazel. Now, Azazel bit off a bit more than he could chew with the Winchester boys, John finally found a way to kill a demon, the Colt, a gun that could kill all but five beings,"

"Seriously?" said Ben raising his eyebrow sceptically, "A magic gun?"

"Yep, now this is where it gets really convoluted, to release Lucifer from his cage Azazel had to break 66 of the 666 seals any of the 66 would do except that he needed to break the first one and the last one specifically. The first seal can only be broken when a righteous man spills blood in hell, so when Dean was dying and John made a deal to save his life, his soul went straight to the Pit and the torture began, he was offered a deal he could get off the Rack if he started torturing souls, John of course being a righteous man, refused and refused and refused. Meanwhile back on Earth Sam and the other special kids are undergoing their final test, survive your fellows and you get to be the leader of a Demon Army. Well, Sam died, and you have to understand Sam and Dean are so co-dependent at this point that they make Edward and Bella look sane,"

"Who?"

"Never mind, the point is Dean made a deal, he sold his soul for Sam's life, and got a year in return. He and Sam went haring off to stop Azazel from opening the Devil's Gate and releasing the Demon Army, but didn't quite make it. In any case they killed Azazel, and only half the Demon Army got out and they killed the winner of the special kid Olympics. Now Sammy had issues with the idea that Dean was going to die so he set about trying to get Dean out of his Deal, and this is where Lilith comes in. With Azazel gone the way of the dodo bird she decided that she would have to do the job herself, so she took a vessel and decided to enjoy herself while she waited for Dean's time to be up. You see they couldn't crack John Winchester, and he was eventually rescued from Hell, so while Lucifer's little go to girl Ruby insinuated herself into Sam's life, Lilith waited patiently and had her version of fun on Earth,"

"And talked to me, right?"

"Got it in one, boyo, you were, I think, Lilith's answer to what if Sam and Dean don't crack? You see Dean when he went to Hell was stubborn and lasted a good forty years of torture you can't even conceive before he broke the first seal and spilled blood in hell, and Sam still didn't really trust Ruby,"

"What does that have to do with anything though? Okay yeah, I get that Dean needed to break the first seal but what about Sam and this Ruby bitch? What's the point?"

"Well, Dean needed to break the first seal but Sam needed to break the last one, by killing Lilith, and being the strongest demon in Hell he needed either the Colt or to drink a lot of demon blood and use the ability it gave him to crush Lilith psychically. Now, Sam didn't know what he was doing, and by then the Angels had gotten involved, Cas, rescued Dean from Hell and rebuilt his body and tasked the Winchesters with helping stop the seal breakage and blah blah blah. The Angels wanted to trigger the Apocalypse, free Lucifer, purify the Earth and go back to the good old days when Earth was a paradise and there was no such thing as free will. To do that they needed Sam and Dean, Dean to be a vessel for my big bro Michael and Sam to be a vessel for Lucifer, they wanted Michael to kill Lucifer and have done with the whole thing,"

"Holy shit,"

"No kidding, well Lucy's out of the cage, that would be what caused the Pulse not terrorists by the way, but in case you haven't noticed, the world's still here, if in a crappy war torn state of denial, come on ask me why...you know you want to..." sing-songed Gabriel.

Ben sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Okay, I'll bite, why?"

"Dean and Sam had to say yes, an Angel can't take a vessel without their permission, and Lucifer despite the fact that he is the Devil is still an Angel. So Dean and Sam told everyone, including me, to go screw themselves and destiny because they weren't saying yes under any circumstances. They were going to kill the Devil, stop the Apocalypse and do it all by themselves, you Winchesters are nothing if not stubborn idiots,"

"So...how's that going for them?"

"Nobody knows because they've been missing for eleven years and no one can find them, not even Castiel, and trust me he's looked everywhere and tried everything," Gabriel explained with a shrug, "Now hold still,"

Ben froze as Gabriel placed his hand in the centre of his chest. His eyes widened as pain suddenly ripped through him.

"Shit! What was that?" Ben panted as the pain receded.

"I took a leaf out of Cas' book and carved enochian sigils on your ribs to hide you from Angels,"

"Why?" Ben demanded.

"Haven't you been paying attention? Dean and Sam and their half-brother, the last resort, are all gone, the Angels and Demons have been scouring the whole planet cause Michael and Lucifer need their vessels,"

"And being a vessel is genetic, so you think I could be a vessel?"

"No, I know you could be a vessel, I can see it, I think that you could be a vessel for Lucifer or Michael because I'm pretty damn sure you're Dean Winchester's kid," Gabriel said.

"It's not possible," Ben said.

"Why not? Your mom could have had an affair and kept it a secret, Dean could charm anyone out of their pants," Gabriel said with a lewd eyebrow waggle.

"Yeah, okay, except I wasn't conceived the normal way, I was cooked up in a test tube and implanted into a surrogate; I'm not even fully human!" Ben exclaimed throwing his hands up and stalking away from the Archangel.

"Doesn't matter how you came to be, the fact is you've got Dean Winchester in you, a lot of him unless I'm off my rocker, that makes you the single most valuable person on the planet right about now,"

"So what am I supposed to do now, huh?" Ben demanded running a hand through his shaggy dirty-blond hair.

Gabriel shrugged.

"Lay low, avoid churches, and praying, and hope the Angels and Demons don't find you,"

"So hide," scoffed Ben.

"And run," Gabriel added helpfully.

"I'm a trained killer, and quite frankly I'm sick of my life being one big game of Escape and Evade, I've got Manticore on my ass, probably my whole unit if they ever figure out I'm alive and now you're saying I've also got Angels and Demons to worry about, well screw that, give me the magic gun, I'll go kill the Devil myself!"

Gabriel smirked.

"It's not that simple, boyo,"

"Why the hell not?"

"Well one, cause Dean tried that, Lucifer's one of the five things the Colt can't kill, and two, wherever the Winchester's are they have the Colt," Gabriel said nonchalantly rummaging around in his pockets until he came up with a candy bar.

"So how the hell do we kill the Devil?"

"Don't look at me like that, I'll tell you the same thing I told Dean, I am not going to kill my brother, I'm not even sure that I can," Gabriel said annoyed.

"Fine, whatever, there's got to be some other way," Ben snapped.

"Well if you're set on killing Lucifer, your best bet would be Death's Scythe, but the demons have that, and you'd have to walk into the Pit to get it, which is a bad idea, and a suicide run besides. You can however, put Lucifer back in his box," Gabriel hedged.

"How?"

"Find the keys to the cage,"

"Alright, where are they?"

Gabriel smirked.

"The more important question is what are they. They're the rings worn by each of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, they give them corporeal form,"

"Okay so who are these horsemen guys?"

"War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death,"

"Alright, so I just have to find these...guys, take their rings and then what?"

"Again, it's not that simple, Sam and Dean managed to bump off War and Famine before they disappeared, but as far as anyone knows they've got their rings, and on top of that, you can't go up against Pestilence with no training and no weapons, and I'm not too eager to tangle with Death at all, and this is all provided of course we can even find them,"

"So what, we just kick back, relax and hope someone finds the Winchesters?"

"Nope, I'm bored with that plan, it's taking too long, I vote we go steal the rings from Sam and Dean,"

"I thought you just said no one could find them?" sighed Ben annoyed.

"No one can find them since they've disappeared, we're going to steal the rings before they disappear," Gabriel explained catching Ben by the arm mid-pace and spinning him around to face him touching two fingers to the centre of the startled transgenic's forehead.

In a flash of blue white light the Angel and the Transgenic were gone.

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**AN:** Whew! Long chapter! As always reviews make me smile and jack up the creative flow!


	4. Chapter 3: The Trip and the Wait

**Time and Blood**

**Chapter Three: The Trip and the Wait**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or Dark Angel**

**WARNING:** Some content may be offensive to the religious!

**Author's Note: **Just a short little interlude. Hope you guys like it! Please Review!

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_Fall 2009 – Small Town, South Dakota – Day_

They reappeared in a shadowy corner of some little back alley not too littered with garbage, the sun was shining brightly with only a few clouds here and there, and there was the unmistakable sound of hustle and bustle of a small town during the day.

"What the hell!" Ben snapped jerking away from Gabriel.

He backed away from the Archangel shaking his head barely noticing when his back hit the brick wall of the store on his left.

"Oh, no demon can do that, boyo, it's an Angels Only type dealio," Gabriel said smugly.

"Where the hell are we?" Ben demanded trying to shake of the queer feeling of travelling by Angel.

"When, Benny, when the hell are we, is the more important question," Gabriel lectured.

"What do you mean, when? Like, time travel, when?"

"That's right, welcome back to '09, year of the Pulse, beginning of the Apocalypse, last known time where anybody knows the locations of Sam and Dean Winchester and their last resort brother,"

"That's..."

"Heavy?" suggested Gabriel with a wicked grin.

Ben shot him a confused look.

"Dear God, you're worse than Cas with the pop culture references," Gabriel sighed rolling his eyes.

"Whatever, so you can travel back in time?"

"Yep! Cool right?"

"And you brought me back in time to steal the rings from Sam and Dean, right?"

"Now, you're catching on,"

"Why the hell, didn't you just do this yourself a long freaking time ago!" Ben bellowed.

He moved to grab Gabriel by the lapels of his jacket only to find that the angel had disappeared and reappeared out of his reach.

"Whoa! Calm down! I couldn't," Gabriel explained hands raised in the universal I surrender position.

"Why the hell not?"

"Because it's Sam and Dean, they would recognize me for one, and Castiel would rat me out in a second, if he sensed me, which he would, Cas is diligent like that,"

"So why not get another sneak thief, before this I mean?"

"Who am I going to trust, any of the other Angels would have the same problem as me with Cas, including himself, if I trusted them, which I don't, and humans are too easily swayed by the Devil or possessed or they blab,"

"So you're trusting me to go after the rings?"

"Don't you feel loved?"

"No, you're trusting me because it's in my own best interests to get the rings and bring them to you,"

"Well, yeah, but this is war," shrugged Gabriel, "Lives hang in the balance, got to dole out that trust carefully,"

"Whatever, back to my original question, where the hell are we?"

"An alley not far from where Dean Winchester will be later tonight,"

"How do you know?"

"Well, Dean, at this particular point in time is all geared up to say yes to Michael,"

"What! Why?"

"I don't know, loss of hope? Too many friends dead? No end in sight? Take your pick,"

"That's so..."

"Dumb?"

"I was leaning towards moronic but whatever,"

"Yeah, well, Winchesters," shrugged Gabriel, "The point is, despite this complete lack of faith, Dean didn't say yes, and this is the only window of opportunity where Dean will not have Sam, Cas, Bobby or someone watching his back,"

"Right, so what do I have to do?"

"Well, hopefully pick his pocket, he usually keeps the important stuff in his inner pocket, so it'll be a tough lift,"

"Please," snorted Ben.

"Don't underestimate him boyo, Dean is the smartest moron you'll ever have the misfortune of being related to, he canny and damn fast, if I wasn't an angel he and Sam would have ended me already,"

"Don't worry so much Gabe, I'm a hell of a lot faster than a normal person,"

With a cheeky grin Ben ran a blurred circle around the Angel. Gabriel grinned in return.

"Not bad,"

"Thank you,"

"Now, Dean'll probably be driving a '67 Chevy Impala, black, he'll park it a little ways down the road from the Bible thumper on the corner down there,"

Ben glanced out of the alley and zeroed in on the bearded man with the suit who was shouting about angels and the Apocalypse.

"Huh, he's telling the truth isn't he,"

"Yep...well he's telling the truth about the Angels speaking to him and about the Apocalypse but the rest of it is all Angel propaganda, when Cas, hid Dean and Sam the Angels had to resort to paying heavenly visits to the Bible thumpers and setting them loose, like dogs, only misguided, you'll want to stay away from him because if he recognizes you he'll think you're Dean,"

"And then this whole mission goes pear-shaped, got it,"

"Alright, I've gotta get gone before someone notices me, once you have the rings find a pay phone and call this number," Gabriel instructed.

Ben fought the urge to snap to attention and say yes, sir!

"Good luck, boyo!"

With a flapping of wings sound Gabriel disappeared.

"I'm never gonna get used to that," Ben muttered to himself.

With a couple of hours of waiting ahead of him Ben decided to stock up on some necessary supplies. He practiced his pick-pocketing, and was unsurprised to find his skills as sharp as ever. He then spent most of his hard earned cash on clothes, toiletries that were a rarity back in 2021, and food. He also managed to abscond with a hunting knife that would afford him a little protection at least if things went sour. He settled in to wait in a small diner on the main street that was open until ten and had large windows and a cute waitress who wanted his number and his fine transgenic ass between her sheets. Ben was sorely disappointed he couldn't indulge himself.

At around nine thirty Dean made his appearance as promised.

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**AN:** Next chapter we get to see Dean and the rest of Team Free Will! Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! As always please review and let me know what you guys think!


	5. Chapter 4: Stubbornness Thy Name is

**Time and Blood**

**Chapter Four: Stubbornness Thy Name Is Winchester**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or Dark Angel, any dialogue you recognize was transcripted from Supernatural SSN 5 ep. 18, and thus does not belong to me.**

**Author's Note:** A little bit of the Supernatural crew for ya! So this is the same day that Gabriel and Ben zapped to, just a little earlier. Mostly canon dialogue with a little bit of my twisty manipulativeness thrown in there for good measure. Hope you like, please feel free to review!

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_Fall 2009 – Bobby's House, Sioux Falls, South Dakota – Day_

Dean paced the familiar boards of Bobby's study feeling annoyed and trapped in more ways than one. Cas watched him like a hawk while Sam and Bobby continued to turn pages.

"Yeah, no, this is good, really. Eight months of turned pages and screwed pooches, but tonight, tonight's when the magic happens," he snapped sarcastically.

Sighing in frustration Dean leaned against the nearest bookshelf, arms crossed, sardonic smirk in place.

"You ain't helpin'," snapped Bobby.

"Yeah, well, why don't you let me get out of your hair, then?"

"What the hell happened to you?" Bobby demanded.

"Reality happened. Nuclear's the only option we have left. Michael can ice the devil, save a boatload of people,"

Cas uncrossed his arms and stood up straight ready to intercede if Dean decided to attack or make a run for it.

"But not _all_ of them. We gotta think of something else,"

"Yeah, well, that's easy for you to say. But if Lucifer burns this mother down, and I coulda done something about it, guess what? That's on me," Dean snapped.

"You can't give up, son," said Bobby more gently.

Dean closed his eyes against the understanding in that voice.

"You're not my father. And you ain't in my shoes,"

Dean watched the hurt flash in Bobby's eyes and felt like a douche. Sam shot him his disappointed bitchface, and Dean felt even worse.

Bobby's face shut down and he reached into the right hand top drawer of his desk and pulled out a gun. Dean shifted warily wondering if Bobby was going to shoot him. But Bobby just sat the gun on top of the nearest pile of papers and reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny bullet. He looked at it for a long moment and then set it down on the desk with a sharp clink.

Dean got a sinking feeling in his gut, and a shiver of cold fear ran up his spine.

"What is that?" he asked warily.

"That's the round that I mean to put through my skull," Bobby answered conversationally.

Cool and calm as a cucumber he looked Dean straight in the eye.

"Every morning, I look at it. I think, 'Maybe today's the day I flip the lights out,' But I don't do it. I _never_ do it. You know why? Because I promised _you_ I wouldn't give up!" he bellowed.

Dean flinched. Bobby was right of course, sauce for the goose was sauce for the gander and all that shit, but damned if the weight of the world didn't feel heavier every day. They were running out of options, and Dean could practically hear the clock ticking down to the day Sam said yes to Lucifer. At least if he said yes now, his brother had a fifty-fifty shot of being in the half of the planet not nuked. At least this way Dean wouldn't have to kill Sam.

Dean's head shot up as Cas moved. The angel gasped and hunched over clutching his head clearly in pain.

"Cas, you okay?" asked Sam.

"No," Castiel answers in that perfectly flat voice.

That really worries Dean, something has to be pretty damn bad for the angel to admit he's in pain.

"What's wrong?" Sam asks gently before Dean can demand the same thing.

"Something's happening," Cas says shortly, absently like he's listening to something just out of earshot.

"Where?" Dean demands.

Getting wailed on by angels has got to be better than being trapped in Bobby's study. Unfortunately Cas has no intention of getting them involved, and disappears with a wing fluttering sound fast enough to sent a whorl of wind through the room and toss loose papers around.

"Damnit Cas!"

"What you didn't really expect him to let you help if there are angels involved, did you?" asked Sam with a raised eyebrow.

Dean sighs and continues to pace the room. Sam and Bobby turn back to their books and continue reading. Dean is worried about Castiel and pissed at not being able to do what he needs to do to keep the people he cares about safe.

Sam gets up and moves into the kitchen. After a moment Dean follows him. Sam pins him with a suspicious and strangely tolerant stare but puts himself between Dean and the back door.

"I'm gonna get a beer, do you mind?"

Sam took a few steps to the left just enough to be out of the way of the fridge and raised an eyebrow at his brother. Dean got his beer from the fridge and is quite frankly glad for even that much occupation as it kept his mind from circling between, frustration at his inability to save people, worry for Cas, and anger at the whole damn situation.

Sam watches him drink the beer, and Dean gets the feeling his gearing up to say something and he's picking his words carefully. Lucky for Dean, they hear the flutter of angel wings

"Help," comes Castiel's flat voice.

"Boys!" Bobby calls unnecessarily.

Dean's heart is in his throat and he's already rushing into the room Sam pounding behind him their beers forgotten.

Dean is relieved when they come into the room and Castiel is apparently uninjured though he is laying a muddy and inert body on Bobby's cot.

"Who is it?" asks Bobby suspiciously.

"That's our brother," Sam answers staring at the body on the couch incredulously.

"Wait a minute. Your brother? Adam?" Bobby asks, eyes widening as he searches the guy's face for any hint of family resemblance.

"Cas, what the hell?" Dean demands.

Dean doesn't need to elaborate Cas, knows what he means.

"Angels," he answers succinctly.

"Angels? Why?" Sam asks for sure.

"I know one thing for sure. We need to hide him, now,"

Castiel put his hand on Adam's chest and there is a tell tale glowing that lets Sam and Dean know he's branding the Enochian symbols on his ribs to hide him from angels. Adam gasps for breath and winces rubbing at his ribs absently as he sits up.

"Where am I?" he demands instantly.

Cas, Bobby and Sam think immediately of Dean and Sam shoots Dean a look. Dean rolls his eyes.

"It's okay. Just relax, you're safe," Sam says turning his puppy-eyes on his youngest brother.

"Who the hell are you?" he demands.

"You're going to find this a little...a lot crazy, but we're actually your brothers," Dean puts in.

"It's the truth. John Winchester was our father, too. See, I'm Sam..."

"Yeah, and I'm sure that's Dean. I know who you are," Adam says rolling his eyes.

"How?" asked Sam raising his eyebrows, surprised.

"They warned me about you," Adam explained.

"Who did?" growled Dean.

"The angels. Now where the hell is Zachariah?" snaps Adam annoyed.

Sam's eyebrows have long since disappeared into his hairline, and he has trouble deciding whether to laugh or gape, since he's pretty sure he's heard the same words come out of Dean's mouth before, hell he's pretty sure he's snapped something similar before.

"So why don't you just tell us everything? Start from the beginning," Dean instructs.

Strangely enough, Dean's gruff orders seem to calm Adam, let him know where he stands or something. Sam's not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, because it gets the kid talking.

"Well, I was dead and in Heaven. 'Cept it...it uh, kinda looked like my prom and I was making out with this girl, her name was Kristin McGee..."

Adam's face splits into a sheepish slightly goofy grin.

"Yeah, that sounds like heaven. Did you get to third base?" asked Dean, with a conspiratorial smirk.

"Just uh, just keep going," Sam instructs shooting his 'Really, man? Come on,' look at his older brother.

Dean just shrugs unrepentantly and Sam realizes it's the happiest he's seen Dean look in a long time. Suddenly it becomes clear to Sam why his brother is on the verge of saying yes to Michael, why the deaths of their friends are taking such a toll. Dean fights for family, it's all that really matters to him, the more people he has to protect and care for the happier he is. In the past year his family has dwindled down to Sam, Cas, and Bobby, and in a way to Lisa and Ben. He needs to keep them all safe, by whatever means necessary, Sam just doesn't see why Dean has jumped so quickly from stubborn to martyr.

Dean gives him a nudge and Sam snaps out of his thoughts and refocuses on Adam's story.

"Well, these…these angels, they popped out of nowhere, and they tell me that...I'm chosen," Adam says.

He says it with a kind of awed disbelief.

"For what?" asks Sam, wondering what more the Angels could possibly demand of their family.

"To save the world,"

"How you gonna do that?" asks Dean warily.

"Oh, me and some archangel are going to kill the Devil," he says it nonchalantly, but Sam can tell he's getting a kick out of saying it.

"What archangel?" asks Dean.

Sam thinks incredulously for a minute that maybe Gabriel is going to go up against his brother, but then remembers the Trickster already has a vessel, and as far as he knows Raphael's still got one too.

"Michael. I'm his uh, sword or vessel or something, I don't know," shrugs Adam.

"Well, that's insane," Dean snaps.

Sam glances at him wondering if he's jealous that his spot in the Apocalypse got handed to the understudy, but that's not it, the fire in Dean's eyes is protective not jealous. Sam relaxes, the pieces are falling into place.

"Not necessarily," Castiel contradicts Dean.

His voice is considering.

"How do you mean?" Dean asks, sharp but not impolite.

"Maybe they're moving on from you, Dean," Castiel sounds hopeful.

"Well that doesn't make sense," Dean grumbles.

"He is John Winchester's bloodline, Sam's brother. It's not perfect, but it's possible,"

"Well you gotta be kidding me,"

"Why would they do this?" Sam asked Castiel looking up at the angel.

Cas shrugs, a habit he's picked up from Dean.

"Maybe they're desperate. Maybe they _wrongly_ assumed Dean would be brave enough to withstand them," Castiel snaps glaring at Dean.

"Alright, you know what? Blow me, Cas," Dean snaps back.

Cas and Dean's friendship and partnership have taken a hard blow this time. Sam worries that they might not recover from it this time, they both look, angry and hurt. Sam shakes his head, that isn't the most important problem at hand.

"Look, no way. After everything that's happened? All that crap about destiny? Suddenly the angels have a Plan B? Does that smell right to anybody?" Sam points out, mostly for Adam's benefit since he knows Dean and Bobby are thinking along the same lines.

Hunter's were an inherently suspicious bunch.

"You know this has been a _really_ moving family reunion, but uh, I got a thing, so..." Adam starts standing up.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no. Sit down. Just listen, okay? Please," Sam pleads unabashedly, they need to keep Adam with them, that much is abundantly clear.

"It's unbelievable,"

"Now, Adam…the angels are _lying_ to you. They're full of crap," Sam snaps, making sure to direct a pointed glance at Dean as if by reminding his brother of this fact Dean will realize that saying yes to Michael is a really bad plan, and get of his soapbox for awhile.

"Yeah, I don't think so," Adam says.

"Really. Why not?" Sam asked genuinely confused.

"Um, 'cause they're _angels_,"

Oh, right, blind faith, he'd forgotten about that component.

"They tell you they were gonna roast half the planet?" asked Sam raising an eyebrow.

"They said the fight might get pretty hairy, but it is the Devil, right? So we got to stop him," shrugged Adam.

Again Sam couldn't help but marvel how alike he, Dean, and Adam all were.

"Yeah, but there's another way," Sam wheedled.

"Great. What is it?" asked Adam.

"We're working on 'the power of love'," Dean said sarcastically shooting a glare at everyone in the room except Adam.

"How's that going?" asked the kid in the exact same sardonic irreverent tone.

"Mmm. Not good," Dean answered with a smirk that more closely resembled a grimace.

Sam shot Dean a glare and a bitchface for good measure and quickly turned back to convincing yet another brother that running off to say yes to Michael was a bad plan.

"Look, Adam…You don't know me from a hole in the wall, I know. But I'm begging you. Please, just trust me. Give me some time,"

"Give me one good reason," Adam said seriously.

"Because we're blood," answered Sam automatically, because that was what meant the most to their family, because that was why Dean hadn't fought like an alley cat and gone haring off yet.

Apparently, however, this was the wrong thing to say to Adam. The kid immediately shut down, his eyes went flat and cold.

"You've got no right to say that to me," he said quietly.

"You're still John's boy," Bobby said staunchly.

Bobby might not of liked John Winchester overmuch most of the time, but his sons were like sons to him, and Adam was not an exception to that rule.

"No, John Winchester was some guy who took me to a baseball game once a year. I don't have a dad. So we may be blood, but we are not family. My mom is my family. And if I do my job, I get to see her again. So no offense, but she's the one I give a rat's ass about, not you," snapped Adam.

"Fair enough. But if you have one good memory of dad, just one, then you'll give us a little more time. Please," Sam begged.

Apparently Adam does have some good memories of John Winchester because after a long moment he nods.

"Fine, but can I get some food? Being dead for a year pretty much empties your stomach,"

"Don't I know it," Dean says commiserating, "I'll make you something,"

Sam rolls his eyes and turns back to his book confident that Cas is watching Dean. Sure enough when Sam looks up a couple minutes later Dean is presenting a sandwich to Adam and Castiel is watching Dean's every move, his flat stare only occasionally becoming an outright glare before fading into something like a kid who's been told there's no Santa and then shifting into a longing look.

Sam glances at Dean whose gaze has moved from Adam to the Impala and has turned speculative.

"Cas, maybe you and Dean should make sure things are going okay downstairs,"

Hints Sam.

"Aw, c'mon, Sammy," grumbles Dean.

Sam raises an eyebrow and Dean grabs his beer and trudges downstairs.

"Just to be clear, you want me to confine him to the panic room," Cas says.

"Yeah, Cas that would be great," Sam answered glancing at Adam to make sure he couldn't hear the exchange.

Adam was playing with his half-eaten sandwich, examining it as if it holds the answers to the mysteries of the universe, he sighs and tosses it back on the plate. Glancing up he sees Bobby turn around in his wheelchair, and looks at the door in the kitchen, planning to escape. He stands up and slips quietly into the kitchen.

"Going somewhere?" asks Sam with a raised eyebrow.

"Out for a...beer," Adam lies.

It's a lame excuse but he figures Sam already knows what he's about.

"Great. We got beer. Have a seat," his gargantuan brother orders.

Adam flops into a kitchen chair with a sigh and Sam sets a beer in front of him and pick up one for himself.

"Great. You know, you pitched this whole dewy-eyed bromance thing, but the truth is, I'm on lockdown, aren't I?"

Sam laughed.

"I think you already know the answer to that,"

"Great," scoffs Adam again.

"Adam, you may not believe it, but dad was trying to protect you. Keeping you from all of this," Sam said gesturing around at Bobby's house.

"Yeah well, I guess the monster that ate me didn't get that memo," Adam replied flatly sipping his beer.

"You remember that?" Sam winces.

"Oh yeah,"

"Still, trust me. The one thing worse than seeing dad once a year was seeing him _all_ year," Sam said thinking about late nights with no dinner, of it being only him and Dean for weeks at a time.

"Do you know how full of crap you are?" snapped Adam almost pleasantly.

"What?"

"Really. You see, it was me and it was my mom. That's it. She worked the graveyard shift at the hospital. I cooked my own dinners. I put myself to bed. So you can say whatever you want about our dad, but the truth is, I would have taken anything,"

Sam nods his head a little. He doesn't bother to enlighten Adam as to the reality of life with John Winchester, it wasn't their father who would have taken care of Adam, it would have been Sam and Dean to protect him, and care about him.

"Alright?"

"Look, if we had known we had a brother..." Sam started but was quickly interrupted by Adam.

"Well, you didn't, so…"

"We would have found you," Sam finishes

Adam scoffs and shakes his head.

"Look, I can't change the past. I wish I could. But from here on out..."

"What? We gonna hop in the family truckster? Pop on down to Wally World?" asks Adam sarcastically.

Sam chuckles a little.

"Tell you one thing, with an attitude like that, you would have fit right in around here," he says.

Adam seems taken aback by this and sips his beer.

"Where's Dean?" he asks finally.

"Yeah, he and Cas are taking a bit, why don't you grab a few zees I'm gonna go check on them," Sam lied smoothly.

Adam rolled his eyes but obediently moved back to the cot and stretched out. Sam trudged down the stairs just in time to hear Dean say,

"Well, Cas, not for nothing, but the last person who looked at me like that…I got laid,"

Cas was giving Dean the longing look again.

"Uh, why don't you, uh, go keep an eye on Adam?" Sam suggested to Castiel.

Cas shot Dean another look but left.

"Is this really necessary?" Dean demanded as soon as Cas was out of earshot.

Sam had a feeling the angel's constant staring was making Dean feel guilty and uncomfortable.

"Well, I mean, we got our hands full, Dean... A house full of flight risks," Sam shrugged.

"I'm not letting him do it," Dean said gruffly.

"Who, Adam? No, I'm... I'm not, either," Sam said softly.

"No, you're not getting me..."

"Oh, no, no, I 'get' you perfectly. But I'm not letting you do it, either," Sam snapped.

"That kid's not taking a bullet for me," Dean growled.

"Dean…"

"I'm serious. I mean, think about how many people we've gotten killed, Sam. Mom, Dad, Jess, Jo, Ellen. Should I keep going?"

"It's not like we pulled the trigger,"

"We might as well have. I'm tired, man. I'm tired of fighting who I'm supposed to be,"

"Well, do you think maybe you could take a half a second and stop trying to sacrifice yourself for a change? Maybe we could actually stick together?" Sam snapped annoyed.

"I don't think so," said Dean in all seriousness.

"Why not? Dean, seriously. Tell me. I...I want to know,"

"I just…I don't believe,"

"In what?"

"In you. I mean, I don't. I don't know whether it's gonna be demon blood or some other demon chick or what, but…I do know they're gonna find a way to turn you," Dean said pinning Sam with sad jaded green eyes.

"So you're saying I'm not strong enough," Sam said hurt.

"You're angry, you're self-righteous. Lucifer's gonna wear you to the prom, man. It's just a matter of time," said Dean shaking his head and looking away.

"Don't say that to me. Not you...of all people,"

"I don't want to. But it's the truth. And when Satan takes you over, there's got to be somebody there to fight him, and it ain't gonna be that kid. So, it's got to be me," Dean said his voice hitching a bit before going cold and determined.

Sam can't take anymore and flees up the stairs, breathing heavily.

"Cas," he calls softly.

The angel appears in the doorway.

"I put Adam to sleep,"

"Good, thanks, um, why don't you go watch Dean," Sam suggests

"How's he doing?" Bobby asks when Sam appears in the study.

Sam shrugs and scoffs, blinking back tears.

"How _you_ doing?"

Sam nods slightly.

"I'll be alright,"

Castiel goes downstairs to check on Dean. He hears a crash and goes to the panic room door, worried.

"Dean? Dean?" Cas queries anxiously moving closer to the door and poking his head cautiously inside the room.

"Cas,"

Castiel turns relieved and his eyes widen when he sees the angel banishing sigil drawn on the inside of a cabinet door. Dean presses a bloody hand to it and Castiel screams as he's sent away. Dean closes his eyes and adds causing Cas pain to the list of things he feels guilty about today.

He escapes out a pair of storm doors and gets into the Impala driving away. Bobby and Sam see him go through the window in Bobby's study. Sam quickly darts downstairs to make sure Dean is really gone and to check on Castiel.

"Where's Cas?" Bobby asks as Sam reappears shaking his head.

"Blown to Oz. Look, I'll get Dean. He couldn't have gone too far. Just watch Adam," Sam orders as he pulls on his jacket and snags the keys to a car he knows Bobby's got running. He ignores the fact that it's Ellen's old truck.

"How? You may have noticed, he's got a slight height advantage," Bobby protests.

"Then cuff him to your chair. I don't know. Just watch him,"

Bobby watches Ellen's truck roar out of the lot in a storm of dust after the Impala and thanks god for Castiel who was at least sensible enough to zap one of the pains in his ass unconscious.

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**AN:** Next Chapter, Dean and Ben meet! Hope you guys are enjoying the story! As always reviews get my creative juices flowing


	6. Chapter 5: In Which

**Time and Blood**

**Chapter Five: In Which Things Don't Go According to Plan**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or Dark Angel**

**Author's Note:** This chapter picks up right where chapter 3 left off. Sorry it's kinda short but I want to keep things neatly divided. As always please review and let me know what you think!

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_Fall 2009 – Small Town, South Dakota - Night_

Ben watched as a carbon copy of himself in ten years got out of the beautiful black specimen of American muscle. He looked like a man on a mission, he looked like a soldier. Ben studied this ordinary soldier, his face wasn't blank but there was no emotion, he wore no uniform but he strode through the streets straight backed and proud and confident, and he looked calm and focussed. Dean Winchester looked quite grim in fact.

Ben gulped down the rest of his coffee and stood.

"You want another, honey?" asked the waitress cocking her hip suggestively and holding up the pot of fresh coffee.

It was tempting, the coffee in this joint was friggin sweet!

"Thanks Betsy, but I better get going," Ben said throwing down a fiver for her tip and giving her a charming grin before slipping out into the street and pulling up his hood.

Effortlessly Ben maneuvered himself so that he and Dean Winchester would pass each other and as they got close he could make a quick lift and a quicker getaway.

It was just weird watching an older version of himself walk down the street. Younger, brainwashed, gun-toting versions of himself he could get used to. He almost expected it out of Manticore. Older was new and vaguely alarming for some reason.

Taking a deep breath Ben focussed on the target, as he'd been trained to do, he kept his head down, shoulders hunched and slammed into Dean Winchester with impunity.

Now Ben was counting on a certain amount of violence as a response. It was the whole anger as a distraction technique as he couldn't legitimately expect someone who moved like Dean to not be aware when he was being pick-pocketed. He was not, however, prepared for the extreme reaction he got and was unceremoniously slammed against the side of a building.

"What is your prob..."

"Fuck," Ben said succinctly.

Dean's eye had gone wide and hard, and the older man was shoving him into the space between two stores where people wouldn't see them.

"Shapeshifter," growled Dean pulling out a knife.

"I'm not!" Ben protested jerking against the older man's grip on the front of his shirt hissing in surprised when he found his palm cut with a knife.

"Hn," grunted Dean, "Not a shapeshifter,"

"Christo!" spat Dean.

"Flattering but no," Ben said.

"Are you me? Like from the past me?" asked Dean slightly more hesitantly.

"Nope,"

"Okay, what the hell are you and why are you wearing my face!" Dean demanded in a low gruff and dangerous and incredibly familiar voice.

He had, thankfully, decided to put the knife away.

"Transgenic, we're related...somehow," shrugged Ben shoving Dean away from him.

Dean seemed a tad surprised at the ease with which this was accomplished.

"Transgenic?"

"It's not important," Ben said waving his hand dismissively.

"How the hell is it not important?" Dean demanded.

"Fine, it's important, whatever, we don't really have time for it," Ben said pointedly.

"Okay, fine, how're you related to me?"

"The popular outside theory is I'm your son, I think you're my genetic basis,"

"You gonna explain that?"

"Not right now, no," Ben said shrugging.

"What do you want?"

"To save the world," shrugged Ben grinning cheekily.

Dean stared at Ben for a long moment.

"Okay, seriously, this is getting freaky why today of all day are random people related to me showing up who seem to know everything about an apocalyptic war that's on the hush, hush!"

Ben shrugged.

"Look kid, I appreciate the offer but, I got this, if anyone's gonna be Michael's bitch it'll be me," Dean said fiercely.

"Who said anything about Michael?" asked Ben.

Dean paused.

"What do you mean?"

"What I said, you wanna save the world, call me," Ben said slipping Gabriel's phone number into Dean's hand and walking away.

The key was the walking away part, he'd piqued Dean's curiosity but his...original...was suspicious, he probably thought Ben was a monster or something. The trick was to give Dean the space he would need to feel comfortable in his ability to outmanoeuvre him and Gabriel and then actually be on the level.

He disappeared into the crowd moving out of the general vicinity of Dean and finding a payphone in a bank a few blocks over.

He dialled Gabriel's number from memory.

"Hello, hello," chirped the archangel.

"It's me," said Ben.

"Well, duh," said Gabriel.

Ben could practically hear the eye rolling.

"The mission was a no go, I got found out," Gabriel cursed.

"This might be a good thing," Ben said, "Maybe we can just tell him and he can avoid disappearing,"

Ben heard the exasperated mutter of 'Winchesters...idiots...' from the other end of the line.

"It doesn't work like that, whatever you do to change the future your actions mostly come out to make the whole thing more like a self-fulfilling prophecy, otherwise some idiot would have destroyed the timeline by now," Gabriel explained.

"Great,"

"Please tell me you didn't go blabbing,"

"I just gave him your number,"

There was a long pause.

"Alright, I guess that's not so bad where are you?"

"A bank at the corner of Oak and Wellsey,"

The now familiar figure of Gabriel appeared on the street corner and Ben hung up the phone and went out to meet him.

"Come on Speedy Gonzalez, we're not going to wait up for Dean Winchester's phone call like a bunch of girls. It'll probably be a few days before he makes a decision on whether or not to call us anyway,"

Gabriel touched Ben's forehead and they were zapped into what looked like a room at the No-Tell Motel. Ben regarded the room disdainfully.

"I'm not sleeping with you," he told a grinning Gabriel sternly.

"It would be fuuun!" sing-songed Gabriel.

Ben snorted before going to immure himself in the bathroom which was complete with towels, cheap soap, toothpaste, towels and most importantly actual hot water.

He spent most of the rest of the night in the hot water, despite the archangel's repeated insistence that he would shrivel up like a prune, and complaints of boredom. Around midnight, he decided to go somewhere else, and shouted at Ben that he was leaving the phone and not to blab anything stupid, at which point Ben got out of the bath dried off, snuggled up in one of the garish red quilted beds and fell promptly asleep.

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**AN:** As always please read and review, next chapter should be up soon!


	7. Chapter 6: Hurt and Hope

**Time and Blood**

**Chapter Six: Hurt and Hope**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Supernatural or Dark Angel**

**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who Reviewed and/or Story Alerted! Glad to know this is getting some interest! Sorry that this is another short chapter, it was gonna be one long one but then I wanted to get Adam's feelings and what-not into the story, and for the sake of neatness split it into three parts. Enjoy!

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_Fall 2009 – Small Town, South Dakota - Night_

Dean let the thing with his face go, and tucked the number in his pocket. If everything went according to plan they wouldn't even need it, but if things went about the way Dean expected them to a shady phone number from a guy that looked exactly like him and was probably evil might be all they had to go on.

With a sigh Dean exited the alley and made his way down the street to where a guy with way too much hair was screaming about the apocalypse as if people were going to listen to him.

"The end is nigh! The apocalypse is upon us! The angels talk to me, and they asked me to talk to you! The apocalypse..."

The preacher trailed off and his eyes went really wide as Dean approached.

"Hey! I'm Dean Winchester. Do you know who I am?" Dean demanded.

"Dear God," said the Preacher faintly.

Dean wondered if the guy was gonna swoon or something equally ridiculous and annoying.

"I'll take that as a yes. Listen, I need you to pray to your angel buddies and let them know that I'm here," he ordered.

The preacher immediately fell to his knees in the middle of the street with his eyes closed his face turned up and his bible clasped between his hands. Dean felt distinctly awkward and thought about edging away from the guy.

"Our father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name..." shouted the preacher.

Dean winced, couldn't the guy have a bit more, discretion or something?

"You pray too loud,"

It was Castiel's voice, flat and darkly furious.

Castiel touched the annoying preacher and he fell to the ground, unconscious. The angel then grabbed Dean and dragged him into a nearby alley, slamming him into a brick wall

"What, are you crazy?" Dean demanded.

Cas took him by the lapels of his jacket and slammed him into another wall, kneeing him in the stomach and punching him twice across the face with very little restraint if the pain Dean felt was any indication.

"I rebelled for this? So that you could surrender to them?" Castiel shouted.

Dean had never seen the angel so emotional, except in the vision of the future he'd seen because of Zachariah. He looked, well, Dean had never seen such helpless fury and hopeless grief mixed together like that.

Dean barely registered being slammed back into the other wall until he got another fist in the face and one in the gut for good measure. He didn't fight back, and not just because he knew Cas could kick his ass six ways from Sunday without breaking a sweat, he didn't want to fight back.

This, all of this was his fault. Not only was it his fault that the apocalypse was fucking nigh, but Cas' grief, Adam's pain, Sam's impending doom. God, more than ever he wished he was back on the Rack with Alastair ripping into him. One by one his family was falling around him, and it was all his fault.

"Cas! Please!"

"I gave everything for you. And this is what you give to me!"

He punched Dean across the face and kicked him a good three feet into a chain link fence where Dean fell gasping for air and coughing up blood curling in on himself instinctively.

He looked up at Castiel, and saw the conflict in his face.

"Do it," Dean urged, "Just do it!" he screamed when he saw Castiel hesitate his resolve wavering his fury fading.

Dean stared right into Castiel's hard blue eyes, watched the last of the murderous rage flee, leaving them flat and lifeless as they hadn't been since Joseph told them God would not be making an appearance.

Castiel unclenched his fist and touched Dean's shoulder, knocking him out. He then pulled out his phone and dialled Sam's number.

"Hey, did you find him?" asked Sam anxiously.

"We are returning to Bobby's," Castiel informed him in his usual flat voice.

"Okay, I'm already there, see you in a sec," Sam said.

Cas flicked the phone shut and strode over to where Dean, ever the stubborn one, was stirring out of unconsciousness.

Back at Bobby's, Sam slammed the door of Ellen's truck harder than was probably necessary tucking his phone back into his pocket and jogging up the front steps.

"Bobby?"

"Adam's gone," Bobby informed him without preamble.

Sam stared at the old hunter for a second.

"Bobby, what do you mean, 'Adam is gone?'"

"Should I say it in Spanish?" snapped Bobby irritably.

Sam ran a hand through his hair and let out a breath.

"He's gone how? What the hell, Bobby?"

Bobby glared.

"Watch your tone, boy. He was right in front of me, and he disappeared into thin air,"

"How?"

There was a slight rustling of papers to announce the arrival of Castiel with a bruised and bloodied Dean slung over his shoulders.

"Because the angels took him," the angel informed them dumping Dean on the couch and knocking him out again, promptly.

"What the hell happened to him?" asked Sam wide eyed at his brother's condition.

"Me," Castiel said flatly.

Sam winced; Cas must have really been pissed.

"What do you mean, the angels took Adam? You branded his ribs, didn't you?" demanded Bobby concentrating on the more immediate issue.

"Yes. Adam must have tipped them,"

"How?" asked Bobby.

"I don't know. Maybe in a dream," Castiel suggested.

"Well, where would they have taken him?" asked Sam.

"To the Room," said Castiel.

"The Room, what room?" snapped Bobby.

"It's the place where those who are knowingly sacrificing themselves for the angels are held, they're given any last meal they could wish for and essentially kept prisoner until their sacrifice is complete. It was where Dean was taken when Sam went to kill Lilith," Castiel explained.

"Right, we're going to get him," Sam said leaving no room for arguments.

"I'll find out what I can," Castiel said.

"Wait, Cas, heal Dean up first would you?"

Castiel gave Sam a hard look.

Sam rolled his eyes.

"Look I'll keep him chained up in the Panic Room until you get back, but we're gonna need more than just you and me, and Dean's pretty much the only other guy we've got at this point," Sam said morosely, "No offence Bobby,"

Bobby grunted.

"Very well," Cas said.

He went over to Dean stared at him blankly for a long moment and then touched him on the head. Dean glowed faintly for a second and then sighed out a breath uninhibited.

Cas promptly disappeared in a flutter of wings and a rustle of papers.

"Sam, I don't have to tell you that this is probably a trap," Bobby said as Sam hoisted Dean over his shoulders and moved towards the basement.

"I know,"

"He's gonna say yes, boy, if you bring him along you're going to lose him,"

"No I won't, cause he won't do it,"

Bobby raised a sceptical eyebrow but allowed Sam to continue dragging Dean downstairs.

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**AN:** Please Review and tell me what you think!


	8. Chapter 7: The Last Resort

**Time and Blood**

**Chapter Seven: The Last Resort**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Supernatural or Dark Angel, anything you recognize was transcripted from Supernatural SSN 5 ep. 18 and thus is not even a little bit mine. Sad day.

**Author's Note: **Hey there sport's fans I'm back! For those of you who were wondering no I was not in a heinously painful car accident nor did I elope to fiji with a tall gorgeous model. I had to rescue my muse, you see she was kidnapped by wizards! (Seriously! If you don't believe me check out all the Harry Potter I've been writing!) Anyway, I'm sorry I'm getting back in the game with such a short chappie, but like a said last chapter three parts! Part three should be way longer.

Well thanks to everyone who reviewed, alerted, and faved and on to the main event!

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Adam stared out at the park where he'd spent some of the happiest moments of his childhood and thought about what it would have been like to have spent them with brothers. He'd never even considered it before today. Sure there had been the odd fantasy where John stayed for more than a day, lived with them, looked after them, but he'd never thought about brothers or sisters. John, he couldn't really think of him as Dad, that was such a foreign concept, hadn't mentioned that he had other sons. Adam hadn't learned about his brothers until after he'd died, and it hadn't really sunken in, again the thought was just so foreign. He hadn't really thought about John's life outside, he'd thought the man didn't have a family because he travelled so oftenfor work, and believed he was happy for what taste of family life he got with them. He'd never doubted that John loved him, but it had been a distant gruff sort of love, nothing to move mountains over.

It had always been just him and his mom, them against the world pretty much. There had been fair-weather friends and acquaintances that came and went, one or two girlfriends that had stuck it out for a bit, but his mom was his family, the person he loved most in this world.

He watched the road from his place on the bench. He could almost imagine his mom pulling up in her beat up old station wagon, letting him out of the backseat and beaming at him proudly as he showed her how he could swing all the way across the monkey bars all by himself, or that he could hang upside down, or that he could jump off the swing while it was still swinging.

He stared out across the sandbox and the plastic play equipment in its primary colors a small smile playing in the corner of his mouth.

There was a quiet fluttering sound.

"Your Mom's not coming you know,"

Adam started slightly and turned to see an older man probably mid-fifties balding, with a smarmy smile and a pristine suit had appeared on the bench beside him. Strange because Adam knew he was dreaming, and because he'd never met the man before.

"This is the park where your mom took you on her day off, right?"

Adam nodded.

"She's not coming, not yet," said the man, "But she will, soon,"

So this would be an angel then. Probably _the _angel, seeing as he was dangling the promise of Adam's mom in front of his nose.

"You're Zachariah, right?"

"I am," he said, "You weren't where you were supposed to be, kid,"

A thrill of fear ran through him, would Zachariah renege on their deal just because the Winchesters had gotten to him before him?

"Yeah, I know, I-"

"I can't quite zero in on you either, so let me take a wild guess, you're with Sam and Dean," said Zachariah sounding annoyed.

"Yeah," Adam admitted biting his lip guiltily.

"Didn't we tell you about them?"

Adam nodded his head. The same guy who'd explained the deal had explained that his brothers would try and sway him to their side of the argument. But for him there was no argument, there was save the world, see his mom, that was it. At the same time though, the Winchesters hadn't demanded he do anything besides stay put, Dean had made him a really good sandwich, Sam had tried to apologize for something that had nothing to do with him and shared a beer with him. Bobby seemed inclined to like him on sight, they were all just so accepting, and welcoming.

"Then you know you can't trust them, right?"

Adam begged to differ. He thought that Sam and Dean might have been some of the more dependable people he'd ever met. After all they were trying to find another way to save the world, one that didn't involve toasting half the planet.

"You know Sam and Dean Winchester are psychotically, irrationally, erotically co-dependent on each other, right?"

"I don't know, they said a few things about you," Adam said pointedly, fishing for an explanation.

Why were these two groups so against each other? What had happened to make Sam and Dean dislike Zachariah and the angels so much?

"Really?" said Zachariah unsurprised though slightly annoyed it seemed, "Trust me, kid, when the heat gets hot they're not gonna give a flying crap about you. Hell, they'd rather save each other's sweet bacon than save the planet,"

Adam shifted and looked out across the park again. He didn't know what to believe.

Zachariah leaned in close and whispered, "They're not your family, understand?"

It may have been a cold, mean thing to say when Adam was just starting to have hope, but in his experience it was the truth. It was him and his mom, them against the world, and she needed him to do this so that they could be together again.

"Now...do you want to see your mom, or not?"

Adam jolted awake from his dream.

He opened his eyes and reflected that he must be getting used to waking up somewhere other than where he'd gone to sleep because this room was no room of Bobby's and that wasn't freaking him out. It was...beautiful, that was really the only word Adam could think of to describe it. Not that Bobby's house didn't have character, it was even starting to grow on him, but this room was truly classy with gold ornamentation and fancy murals.

Adam was sitting right in the middle of the room at a long rectangular table draped in a pristine white table cloth, sporting a silver platter piled high with more burgers than he could ever eat and an equally massive silver bowl filled with ice and his favourite beer. It was set for one and the dishes and utensils were made of white gold.

Grinning Adam grabbed a burger and dug in. It was delicious. Cooked to perfection with melted cheese and all his favourite fixings. Adam even moaned a bit it pleasure much to his chagrin.

"I see you and your brother share the same refined palate," sneered Zachariah appearing without a whisper of sound.

Adam ignored him in favour of the much more pleasant burger. He then popped off the top of one of the beers and took a long swig to wash it down. Zachariah was officially an asshole and Adam could see why the Winchesters wouldn't believe anything that came out of his mouth, but he was Adam's only chance at seeing his Mom again.

"Ah. So, uh… We ready?" he asked, shrugging a bit.

"For what?" asked Zachariah in mocking innocence.

"What do you mean, for what? For Michael," Adam snapped rolling his eyes.

"Oh. Right. About that…Look, this is never easy, but I'm afraid…we've had to terminate your position at this time,"

"Excuse me?" growled Adam.

"Hey, don't get me wrong, you've been a hell of a sport, really. Good stuff. But the thing is, you're not so much the 'Chosen One' as you are…a clammy scrap of bait,"

Adam felt his stomach sink to somewhere around his shoes.

"No…but what about the stuff that you said? I'm supposed to fight the devil," he protested.

"Mmm, not so much. Hey, if it's any consolation, you happen to be the illegitimate half-brother of the guy we do care about. That's not bad, is it?"

Adam dropped his burger his hands clenching into fists.

"So you lied…about everything,"

"We didn't lie. We just avoided certain truths to manipulate you," said Zachariah cheerily.

The bastard was enjoying this!

"Oh, you son of a bitch!"

So the Winchesters hadn't been lying when they said this was probably a trap, and he'd walked straight into it like some noob.

"Hey, how do you think _I_ feel? I'm the one that's got to put up with that dumb, slack-jawed look on your face. Kid, we didn't have a choice. The Winchesters got _one_ blind spot, and it's family. See, Sam and Dean, they're gonna put aside their differences and they're gonna come get you, and that is gonna put Dean right…here…right where I need him. This is the night, kid! _Our_night. Michael's seen it. The tumblers finally click into place, and it's all because of you. And me. But who's keeping score?"

"Yeah, I'm not gonna let you do this,"

Adam said standing prepared to get out of this beautiful freaking holding cell, get back to Bobby's and warn Sam and Dean. Never mind that he had no idea where Bobby's house was, or where this room was for that matter.

"Cool your jets, corky. Sit down. We're doing it together. Plus, you still get your severance. You still get to see your mom, okay?"

"Why should I believe you?" said Adam darkly.

"You know what? I keep hearing this,"

Zachariah made a little beak with his hand and made it open and close in the traditional, yap, yap yap, way.

"But what I want to be hearing is this,"

Zachariah closed his hand-mouth and Adam's guts were suddenly on fire. Choking and coughing trying to get a decent breath in he spat up a mouthful of blood and fell to the table as waves of pain ripped through his abdomen.

"Yeah, that's better," the angelic bastard said smiling.

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**AN:** And there you have it folks, a little trip through Adam's thought processes! Hope you all enjoyed, please review and let me know what you think!


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